It was a nice, warm day outside, and yet Bea still had to stand around, doing nothing inside of the 'Ol Pickaxe. She hated it. But, she couldn't do much about it, and so continued to tap away on her phone, attempting to entertain herself. It wasn't working too well.

Ring. Bea looked up at the door and its annoying bell.

"Heh, I was wondering when you were finally gonna stop by and say hello," Bea dryly joked from behind the counter.

"I slept in," Mae blankly mentioned as she walked up to the counter.

"What, you mean later than usual?" Bea taunted.

"Hmpf. I'm twenty, I can make my own decisions, thank you very much." Mae retorted.

"Maybe, but you're also unemployed," Bea continued.

"Ugh. I told you, I'm looking," Mae insisted.

It was late in the afternoon on a warm spring day in Possum Springs. Business was slow in the 'Ol Pickaxe, Gregg and Angus were off at work doing… work stuff, and Mae was still sleepy after waking up at about six o' clock. Bea couldn't believe how much Mae slept sometimes. It was adorable.

"Well, hurry up so that you can finally pay me back all the money you owe me," Bea teased.

"That'll never happen and we both know that,"

"Maybe not, but we can dream, can't we?" Bea chuckled.

The two had been, according to Mae, "sorta dating" since the events a few months earlier with the "murder cult of dads". And, with Gregg gone, they wouldn't be pestered about it, unlike the pestering Bea and Mae did towards Gregg and Angus.

Gregg and Angus had been gone for a few weeks, and Bea and Mae were adapting to it. It was definitely more boring for the both of them, but they were able to annoy each other as much as they wanted, so they could deal with it. And besides, they could hang out with Germ if they ever felt like it, which they had a few times already. But, Germ had been busy recently, repairing his house with his family, as a tornado had comer through town recently, close to the mines. It left most of the other structures in town alone, but with Germ's house being so close to it, it was just about turned inside out. Mae thought it sucked that Germ of all people would have their house ripped apart, but it gave Bea something to do, so she was content.

"Uh, I gotta go, actually. Germ's roof needs me," Bea said, glancing at the clock.

"Oh, really?" Mae muttered, "Sorry I got here so late,"

"Ah, it's no problem. Besides, I was planning for you to come over tonight, if that's alright," Bea suavely bargained, grabbing tools.

"Yeah, sure!" Mae agreed, following Bea out the door.

"Alright, cool. It's nothing much, I've just got some stupid comedy movies for us to make fun of is all,"

"Haha, nice,"

"Alright, see you at, like, nine,"

"Bye!" Mae waved.

The two had been on "dates" before, but this was the first time Mae had been invited over to Bea's since their dinner/fight. Mae was excited. At home she talked to Gregg, who had just got off of work. She still didn't know what Gregg's job was, likewise for Angus. But, they seemed to make enough money to support themselves, so she didn't prod around.

It was eight-thirty, and Mae stared at her phone, attempting to do something to stir away her boredom. Her phone buzzed with a message from Bea.

"hey can you go buy a two liter bottle of Fiascola or something? i'm already home and don't feel like leaving again Take some money from the register at the ol pickaxe and lock the door there while you're at it thanks love you 3"

Mae immediately began to respond, quickly tapping away at the tiny keyboard on her phone.

"what? You don't even lock the doors of the Ol Pickaxe at night? and am I even allowed to take money money from the cash register there?"

"yeah go ahead thats where the money you borrow comes from anyways Also i usually lock up today i felt lazy"

"ok whatever you lazy bum 3"

Mae, after engaging in that much too sweet conversation, sat up and headed out out towards the 'Ol Pickaxe. Mae still couldn't believe that she didn't lock up the store, but it allowed her to steal some money from the store without any consequences. Score.

After closing up the store for Bea and borrowing $5, she headed over to the Snack Falcon, which had replaced Gregg with Germ. It was nice to be able to go to the Snack Falcon and still see a familiar face. She didn't know why or how Germ got the job, but it didn't matter.

"Hey, Germ," Mae started.

"Hey, Mae," Germ said.

Mae walked around the store for a minute before finding the two liter bottles. She grabbed one before walking back to the counter.

"Why do you need so much Fiascola?"

"I don't know, I'm just getting it for Bea,"

"Cute,"

Mae waited as Germ fiddled around with the scanner, attempting to scan the barcode.

Her vision began to shift out of focus, however. Head pounded. World shifted under her feet. Life ceased to be for a moment. She felt no emotions and yet terrible rage at the same time. She wondered if she was dying. Terror filled her very existence.

"...Mae? Mae? You okay?" Germ asked, genuinely concerned.

"Hmm? Uh, yeah, I-I'm alright. Sorry," Mae answered, coming back into consciousness.

"What happened?" Germ continued.

"Uh, just zoned out, I guess," Mae responded, grabbing the soda.

She walked out of the store, carrying the Fiascola in one hand and her phone in the other. She tried to convince herself that what happened in the store was normal while she walked home. It was probably just a migraine or something, or maybe she just started to fall asleep or something. She was fine, she told herself. There was nothing to worry about.